Circling the wagons

Thomas says O'Neal, Artest deserve award consideration

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Isiah Thomas used the conclusion of Thursday's practice as a pulpit to preach the postseason-award worthiness of his players and defend the Pacers' second-half collapse.

When the top players and teams are mentioned in the media, Thomas says, the only time he hears about the Pacers is for playing like his old Detroit Bad Boys teams or going on a long losing streak.

It's ticked him off.

The normally soft-spoken Thomas passionately fought for Jermaine O'Neal for most valuable player and Ron Artest for most improved player.

Thomas wonders why someone like Orlando's Tracy McGrady, on a seventh place team, receives more consideration for MVP than O'Neal. O'Neal averages 20.6 points and 10.4 rebounds, while battling various injuries and a disturbing personal crisis.

"We don't even mention Jermaine O'Neal as an MVP candidate in our own newspapers," Thomas said. "Tell me why he isn't looked at that way. Other teams talk about their players as MVP candidates. Jermaine O'Neal should be an MVP candidate. When they talk about the MVP votes in this league, there's no way in hell his name shouldn't get mentioned."

Thomas said swingman Ron Artest, with his 15.4 points and defensive toughness, should receive consideration for the league's most improved player, won last year by O'Neal.

And he wants more attention for Artest's play and less for his middle-finger flipping, camera-smashing, flagrant-foul earning antics. Artest has missed 12 games because of league and team suspensions.

Thomas asked: "What does that have to do with his playing ability?"

The answer is easy. Having Artest around more in the second half could have prevented a collapse that saw Indiana go from being one of the best teams in the league to having one of the worst post-break records.

The Pacers lost 12 of 13 from mid-February to mid-March and 15 of 20 overall, knocking them out of first place in the Eastern Conference.

In the last month, especially, the Pacers have shown an inability to keep leads or rally in the fourth quarter.

On Tuesday, against the lowly Bulls, Indiana let a seven-point lead evaporate with seven minutes left.

Against Philadelphia, Indiana twice has led in the fourth, only to lose. The Pacers blew a 13-point lead in a loss against Sacramento, lost a fourth quarter lead and the game to Portland and couldn't win a close one in Atlanta.

When asked about the fourth-quarter collapses, Thomas shrugged.

"What's our record in the last 10 games? Six-and-four," Thomas said.

Then Thomas became defensive, questioning why the Pacers aren't viewed as legitimate title contenders.

"Is having a chance to win 50 games, is that good enough? There's New Jersey, Detroit, Philadelphia and Indiana. We've all got a chance to win 50. What's wrong with that? Do you all want us to win 65?"

Thomas said the Pacers had made considerably more progress than any of the other top teams in the East, yet are unfairly criticized for their record.

When asked where he read or heard the criticisms, he just threw up his hands.

"I don't know," he said. "All I know is I wake up and look at the standings every morning, and we're right there with the team that won the East last year (New Jersey) and the team that won the Central (Detroit) and we're challenging them."

Thomas shifted the focus of the slide on injuries and off-court personal matters that affected his team, not playing ability. Other teams didn't have to deal with the issues the Pacers did and they're still in position to win a conference title.

Jamaal Tinsley missed games while his mother battled a long illness and eventually died. Jermaine O'Neal's father is still recovering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and Austin Croshere's father-in-law died.

Still, the Pacers are two games behind New Jersey and Detroit for first place in the East and 1/2 game back of Philadelphia with four games remaining. Orlando, a possible first-round series, visits Indiana on Friday.

Thomas believes a focused and healthy Pacers team can still make a deep run in the postseason.

"At the start of the season, this is the situation we wanted to be in," Thomas said. "We wanted to have a chance to win the East and play for homecourt advantage. We've put ourselves in position to do that."

 

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